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Thomas B. Cavanagh, Ph.D. is the Vice Provost for Digital Learning at the University of Central Florida (UCF). In this role, he oversees the distance learning strategy, policies, and practices of one of the largest universities in the nation, including program and course design, development, and assessment. In his career, Tom has administered e-learning development for both academic (public and private) and industrial (Fortune 500, government/military) audiences. A regular presenter at academic and industry conferences, he is an award-winning instructional designer, program manager, faculty member, and administrator. Blended learning is a frequent presentation topic and he has spoken both domestically and internationally on its design and implementation.

In 2014, he was named an Online Learning Consortium Fellow. Some of his service highlights include: the 2015 EDUCAUSE Annual Meeting program committee, 2012 EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conference program committee, chair of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Advisory Board, Instructure Canvas Advisory Board, WCET Steering Committee, Florida Distance Learning Association Advisory Board, Chair of the Distance Learning and Student Services Members’ Council of the Florida Virtual Campus, and as a track chair for the Sloan-C Conference on Blended Learning. Tom’s research interests include e-learning, technical communication, and the societal influence of technology on education, training, culture, and commerce. He is also an award-winning author of several mystery novels.

Originally from New York, Alli has been with the University of Central Florida since 2008. She provides professional and administrative support to the Vice Provost for the Division of Digital Learning, acts as a liaison with other departments and universities, and coordinates various meetings with deans, directors, faculty, staff, and external partners from other educational institutions and corporations. In addition, Alli coordinates and processes travel for professional development, training workshops, seminars, summits, and conferences. She occasionally provides voiceovers for CDL and UCF-related videos.

Alli has over twenty years of administrative experience and has worked with various corporations in New York City, such as American Broadcasting Company and New York University before moving to the Sunshine State. Alli attended Queens College in New York and majored in Communications.

Chuck Dziuban is Director of the Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness (RITE) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) where has been a faculty member since 1970. Since 1996, he has directed the impact evaluation of UCF’s distributed learning initiative gauging the impact of online, blended and lecture capture courses on the university.

In 2000, Chuck was named UCF’s first ever Pegasus Professor for extraordinary research, teaching, and service and in 2005 received the honor of Professor Emeritus. He received the Sloan Consortium award for Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Learning by an Individual in 2005. In 2010, Chuck was named an inaugural Sloan-C Fellow. In 2012 the University of Central Florida initiated the Chuck D. Dziuban Award for Excellence in Online Teaching for UCF faculty members in honor of Chuck’s impact on the field of online teaching. Chuck is a prolific presenter and publisher of online and blended learning research.

Patsy Moskal is the Associate Director for RITE the University of Central Florida (UCF) where she has been a faculty member since 1989, serving as a graduate faculty scholar within UCF’s College of Education & Human Performance. Since 1996, she has served as the liaison for faculty research of distributed learning and teaching effectiveness at UCF. Patsy specializes in statistics, graphics, program evaluation, and applied data analysis. She has extensive experience in research methods including survey development, interviewing, and conducting focus groups and frequently serves as an evaluation consultant to school districts, and industry and government organizations. She has received funding from several government and industrial agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and others, and has served as a proposal reviewer for the Department of Education and National Science Foundation.

In 2011, she was named an Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Fellow in recognition of her groundbreaking work in the assessment of the impact and efficacy of online and blended learning. Patsy has co-authored numerous articles and chapters on blended and online learning and frequently presents on these topics.

Robert Reed has a BA from Indiana University and an MS in Information Studies from Florida State. He has worked for the Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) since its founding in 1997. As Director of UCF Online, his current responsibilities include oversight of UCF Online’s integration and interface with the University, college support for online program development and related faculty development, and state authorization compliance for the University.

Anita Gabbard is the Program Director for Division Strategy and Engagement. Her current responsibilities includes implementation, growth, and expansion of division-wide policy development/compliance, business processes/procedures, and leadership of strategic initiatives. She is also the team lead for CDL Administrative Support. She earned her bachelors of science from Indiana State University in Human Resources Development and her MA from St-Mary-of-the-Wood College in Leadership Development. She is currently working on her MBA from the University of Central Florida. She has served in higher education for over 30 years, previously at Indiana State University in Student Affairs.

Joshua Bedwell is the Director of Marketing for UCF Online. Through this role, Joshua oversees the marketing and communication activities as they relate to promoting UCF’s fully online programs both within the State of Florida and nationally. Growing up in Australia, Joshua has had the opportunity to work in several senior marketing roles throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Korea and Singapore. Joshua has a background in corporate marketing and digital brand strategy, having honed his marketing skills working in the Consumer Electronics and Banking and Finance sectors before transitioning into the higher education space. Joshua holds a Bachelor of Science from James Cook University in Australia and an MBA from Charles Sturt University in Australia. Prior to joining UCF, Joshua was an Associate Director of Marketing for Pearson Education North America.

A popular speaker and facilitator, Dr. Kelvin Thompson regularly addresses groups throughout the US on topics related to online/blended learning and educational technology while he serves as the Executive Director of the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) Center for Distributed Learning with a faculty appointment as a graduate faculty scholar in UCF’s College of Education & Human Performance. Dr. Thompson has collaborated on the design of hundreds of online and blended courses over the past 21 years and is active in the online education community. Kelvin developed the BlendKit Course open courseware as part of UCF’s Blended Learning Toolkit, and he also co-hosts TOPcast: The Teaching Online Podcast available on iTunes and at http://topcast.online.ucf.edu. Thompson is active in the higher education professional development community and has held leadership roles within the work of EDUCAUSE and the Online Learning Consortium. His personal research interests center around how interaction affects learner engagement, and information on his Online Course Criticism qualitative evaluation model for facilitating the scholarship of teaching and learning in online and blended environments is available online (http://onlinecoursecriticism.com). Kelvin Thompson holds an EdD in curriculum and instruction and an MA in instructional systems technology from UCF and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from The Florida State University. Curriculum vitae is available online at http://bit.ly/kelvin_cv.

Don Merritt is the Director of the Office of Instructional Resources (OIR). Don’s background includes many years in broadcasting radio and television and several years teaching. He has also been involved in a number of international theatre projects that used telepresence to combine actors and audiences across North America in real time, and has contributed to Emmy-nominated productions and internationally-screened documentary work. He is particularly interested in the relationship between people and media and how the situational environment impacts that relationship. Don has spoken nationally regarding accessibility, strategic planning, organizational development, classroom multimedia management, and teaching and learning strategies in media-rich environments.

Jenny Sumner serves as an Assistant Vice Provost in the Division of Digital Learning at the University of Central Florida. In her role, Jenny works to extend UCF’s high-quality and exceptional services to transfer and online students; to cultivate a culture of student success coaching to internal and external partners; and to develop and implement innovative projects and initiatives that benefit students’ academic success, learning, engagement, satisfaction, and graduation. Jenny has led multiple, unit and university-wide, partnership-based projects aimed at enhancing student success, student retention, and the overall student experience.

Dr. Armstrong oversees UCF Continuing Education, which provides credit and non-credit programs to connect the university’s resources with our community to support the re-education, training, professional development, and personal growth of professionals and private citizens across the state, region and nation. Continuing Education partners with the academic, business and professional communities in Central Florida to provide local, state, national and international clients with distinctive, high-quality and cost-effective educational programs and services, with a dedication to the highest standards of customer satisfaction.

As Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Business Center Karen manages human resources and finance professionals that provide services to serval administrative units in Academic Affairs.

Karen joined UCF in 1989 in the College of Education, earning a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and a Master’s in Public Administration. During her tenure at the university she was awarded employee of the month in 1992 and 2003. She is a FRYE ’09 graduate, serves as a student conduct advisor, mentors, and serves on several university committees.

Eric Michael is the Director of Strategic Communications for the Division of Digital Learning. An award-winning writer, editor and content strategist, he works with division leadership to develop integrated communication strategies that engage key audiences with relevant messaging to support university goals. Michael holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing, a Graduate Certificate in Corporate Communication, and an M.A. in Communication from UCF. His professional tenure at UCF includes posts as Content Director for UCF Marketing, Editorial Director for Pegasus Magazine, and Director of Strategic Communications for UCF Connect and UCF Global. Prior to joining UCF, Michael was a reporter and columnist for the Orlando Sentinel and Editor-in-Chief and Brand Director for Scuba Diving and Sport Diver magazines.

Julie Shankle serves as the Executive Director of Continuing Education. The CE team provides a wide variety of in-person and online classes to support professional and personal development. Julie has over 15 years of experience serving remote and adult learners. Prior to joining UCF in 2022, she was the Vice President of Online and Off-Campus Education at Florida Institute of Technology. She served as the annual conference co-chair for the Association of Continuing Higher Education in 2020 and 2021. Julie earned a Bachelor of Arts from Centre College in Kentucky, where she majored in English and Dramatic Arts, and a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Management from Florida State University.